


This is Fate

by NocturnLily



Series: Blood, Sweat and Circuits [1]
Category: Transformers (Unicron Trilogy), Transformers: Armada
Genre: Not Canon Compliant, Other, i'll be adding more tags as appropriate, it'll be loosely following the plot, it's just been a long time and i want to get a feel for things before i just slap stuff on, just so y'all know - I'm using the gremlin Cyclonus
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-10
Updated: 2020-01-14
Packaged: 2021-02-27 07:14:38
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,381
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22063114
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NocturnLily/pseuds/NocturnLily
Summary: A lab assistant finds herself drawn to a commotion and realizes too late it will change her life forever. Now, tied into an age-long conflict by proxy, she resonates with it far deeper than she could have ever expected.I'm back in Transformers hell, welcome to the equivalent of me throwing my snippit chapters against a wall cause I don't do coherent thought. Mostly, though, I'm polishing up an old-ass OC cause I love her and the shenanigans she used to get up to.[Rated for future chapters]
Relationships: Hot Shot (Transformers)/Original Character(s), Megatron (Transformers)/Original Female Character(s), Megatron/Optimus Prime, Megatron/Starscream, Original Female Character/Original Female Character
Series: Blood, Sweat and Circuits [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1589854
Comments: 4
Kudos: 11





	1. Chapter 1

Sarah was at the lab when the fighting broke out.

Shock waves rumbled through the earth and rocked the research compound near the foot of the plateau. Upsetting equipment and personnel alike, there was a mad dash to secure belongings and livelihoods as confusion and fear lit through like lightning. To her knowledge there had been no impending seismic activity nearby. Arizona wasn't prone to rumblings, perfect for nestling a small classified space away from prying eyes. The tremors grew stronger, though, and survival won out; there was no time to think on the why of it all as the assistant scrambled along with her peers.

Everyone rushed out of a door facing the gulch and swarmed along their designated evac route. Sarah struggled to keep pace, slipping over papers that had fluttered and settled all over the floor. More than once she fell flat out, only feeding her own panic. No one stopped to help, no one seemed to notice; in a matter of seconds they had left her despite calling for help. Her voice drowned in their screaming.

Finally scrambling out of the building, something caught her attention over the lip of a western cliff. Glinting and bright, colours exploded into beams through the sky above, followed by several more. Sounds pierced the air, groaning and smashing and screeching like distressed metal; it was a cacophony of phenomenon erupting through the area. Sarah found herself locked in place, spellbound over the spectacle. What the fuck was going on? Adrenaline pounded in her chest and ears, logic told her to keep moving. Run. But now, something else bubbled and tempered the alarm ringing wildly through her.

Curiosity.

This didn't appear to be a tectonic emergency, judging the tremors against the frequency of this disturbance, so there was no threat of the earth splitting and swallowing her whole. Sarah stared, wide-eyed and contemplative, as she took herself through this line of reason. There was something happening; intrigue burned in her, now. The compound was the only facility in the area with anything secret and protected, and this looked like nothing she'd ever seen before. That thought concerned her, but no matter how many possibilities she could rattle up, none of them explained what she was seeing. Whatever this was had a _source_ that could, technically, be witnessed from a safe enough distance. Part of her job was observing unusual events, and this more than fit the bill.

It was dangerous and ignored all calls of self-preservation. But now the thought had sat in her head long enough; she'd spent enough time turning it over and, despite good sense, it drove her towards her car. Shakily jamming her key in the ignition, Sarah threw it in drive and sped off towards the commotion.

Her colleague's calls to come back drowned in peeling rubber.

* * *

Sarah was thankful for all-terrain drive; the road was a rough one, her tires kicking out dirt and pebbles as the treads dug in. Following the commotion forced her to take more isolated, one-way dirt roads winding like snakes, back to ground level and up again. Whatever was happening kept ringing through the ground, and Sarah had to pick her way to avoid rockslides threatening to shake loose. The tremors were getting stronger, the beams with greater frequency, and now she could hear voices. They were distant and distorted, contentious. Angry. She wasn't paying attention to where she was driving, and she hit something lodged in the earth.

She wasn't going fast, but it was enough to throw both driver's side tires up and off the ground before slamming back down with the impact. Sarah swerved, over-correcting, as she fought to cease the rapid left-and-right. With icy fingers curling in her stomach, she realized momentum was against her—a drop in the road was quickly approaching. Whipping the wheel hard to the left, Sarah slammed on the breaks and felt the entire back end of the vehicle swing with the effort. Her heart hammered in the pit of her throat as hands quickly reversed direction, pushing her wheels into the turn now. A second impact shook her jeep as the back fender screeched along the guardrail; the harder her vehicle went into the turn, the more it felt like it would push the rail out of the ground. As quickly as it began, everything finally came to a hard stop as her jeep intersected the lane.

One breath, two.

Sarah sat in her seat, eyes pressed shut and locked in a white-knuckle grip on her steering wheel. Willing her fingers to unlock from their tension, each digit was peeled delicately from the textured surface as she came down from the adrenaline. She risked looking past her passenger side to see how close she was to the edge, and blanched, as she followed it to find empty space under her back tire. Swinging down to look the jeep over, Sarah found her fender partly crumpled and pushed into the space under her brake light. The wheel hub was unharmed, but the tire sat off-kilter.

A third breath. Four.

"God fucking... _shit!_ " she wheezed, dragging her hands up the length of her face before digging them into her hair. The guardrail fared no better, but she refrained from thinking on that for too long. "Just what I fuckin' need, my front axle thrown to horseshit over a fuckin'—"

Over what, exactly?

She spun on her heel, stomping around the bend to find the offending thing. How she missed it on her way up, Sarah wasn't certain, but there was something hard and sea-greenish embedded where the road and cliff face met. Inching closer, she squinted and knelt; wrapping her fingers around it and tugging did nothing but wiggle it in place. The thing was too damn smooth to get a decent grip. Sarah pursed her lips, looking between it and wherever those beams of light were coming from. There was a faint, high-pitched, tinny sound to them and for a moment it almost sounded like those old sci-fi movie weapon effects. Like... laser guns? She scoffed.

Yeah right.

Shaking her head, Sarah shrugged off her lab coat and draped it over the stubborn artifact. Some traction would help here.

"If you're gonna fuck up my car, the least you could do—" Grunt, _pull_. _Yank, pull_. "—is let me get—" Yank, _grunt_. "—a good look at'cha!"

With a final tug, the thing—pentagonal, engraved, _weird_ —eventually pulled loose. No wonder she had a difficult time wrangling it, the disk was as wide as her torso and thick as her wrist. Despite its size, it wasn't as heavy as she assumed it might be. Even stranger, the entire panel was metallic; its edges held an immaculate polish even after the condition she found it in. The rest wasn't as reflective, but embossed in the center was an odd blue symbol that, for lack of a better description, looked like a large 'M'.

Dropping the coat in her lap, Sarah turned the panel over in her hands to examine it further.

It began to glow suddenly, hot and bright, and it startled her so much that she dropped it. Behind her, a frantic call of _'Hey, there's a second one over here!'_ was the only preamble to a succession of mighty tremors that Sarah feared would bounce her right off the road with their ferocity. The glow took shape, faded, and the panel vanished—instead, a figure stood in its place. There was no mistaking its robotic nature; had she been standing, it would have surpassed her full five-foot-six stature by almost a foot more. The body paint didn't match the plate it came from, though—a deep crimson dominated the scheme, with white accents and a yellow visor staring right back at her.

She had no time to process any of this; as she scrambled to her feet, the robot took hold of her arm to provide support. Sarah needed it, finding gargantuan figures towering over the pair of them. Her knees shook, immobilized as one of them extended a large hand their way. A series of beeping—it sounded...panicked?—shook her from her brief paralysis, and she swept her coat from the dirt before tugging her new companion hurriedly towards her car. That same hand now moved to block their progress, but it suddenly reeled back with a pained howl.

Sarah found the source of their help—three more of these things were fast approaching with weapons drawn, and these were more brightly coloured than the other pair.

"You leave them alone!" the yellow of them called. This one's weapon was smoking—was the one who'd fired—and the face took on a snarl. "Back off!"

"Make us, Autobot!" The one who'd attempted to keep her from escaping spoke now, jeering, as an arm leveled towards the others. From the fingertips, projectiles fired off loud and sharp.

This was a lot. This was a _lot_ , and she couldn't help but stay glued to watching it all. There was an urgent tugging at her sleeve, her strange companion doing its best to shake her out of it. Sarah allowed herself to be pushed away, and they both took off at a trot. Both groups exchanged blows now, making it a difficult escape; being so close to the action threw the surrounding ground into a trembling frenzy, and the cliff face was showing signs of cracking.

Sarah clambered into the driver's seat and her companion tried to do the same, with some difficulty; poor thing could barely tuck its legs in tight enough, with all the sharp angles its body wore. The engine started up with no issue, but she forgot about the damage to the front wheel. In slamming the accelerator, there was a bob to the entire front end. The axle barely made a handful of rotations before the tire ground to a halt inside its hub altogether, jolting both passengers.

Sarah cursed, hard and loud, and she could swear the beeping from her right sounded apologetic.

Irritation and panic ran neck and neck through her, and she really didn't mean to be so coarse. She didn't have time to explain that, though, as rocks began to rain down over the roadway. With no cover debris peppered them both, getting heavier as more shook loose. They had to flee, again, and continued along the rest of the road as it sloped down. An errant charge slammed into the rock above, erupting into another shower of earth, and the pair of them were barely quick enough to miss the boulders that fell. There was still some length of road ahead, but now there were smaller figures running up the way _towards_ them. Sarah could only assume these were more poor souls getting caught in and fleeing from whatever was warring above, and she waved frantically.

"Hey! HEY! It's not safe this way, either!" She tried to wave them away, to find another route. "It's not saf—"

As they got closer, she realized not all of them were human. Just like her, they had metallic companions running alongside them, and it surprised her so much that she slowed.

"Are you okay?" one of them asked; a girl, running with two boys. They were all so young—how were they connected to this? "We saw you get pelted up there!"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Look... do you know what's going on? With—" Sarah gestured wildly up. "—all that?"

"Yeah, but this ain't really the place to explain," the boy with the darker complexion mused. "C'mon, let's get outta here!"

There was no choice really but to follow them, so she did. In her frantic pursuit, she didn't realize she'd left her own metal friend a few paces behind until she took a glance backward. It kept looking from her to the others, to her jeep and back again, and Sarah slowed.

"Come on, we can't stay here," she called. It looked back to her, and it was bizarre to think she saw remorse hanging on its shoulders. "We'll worry about that later, come _on!_ "

With that it only took a little while to catch up again, and she made sure she kept pace with her companion this time. Down the road and around a bend they went, a sizeable gaggle trying to make their way to safety. Goliath figures wrested each other above the humans, contesting each other's strength and reflex as they exchanged blows. There was no mistaking hostility, but Sarah wanted desperately to watch. She could barely believe it, there was honest-to-goodness science fiction happening right in front of her eyes and it stood a very good chance of killing her.

The nerd in her was positively _elated_.

The lot of them had to scatter, and her thoughts with it, as they did their best to stay out from underfoot. The mouth of another gap in the canyon wall was just ahead, and the kids made a bee line for it. Sarah, doing her best to stay alive and still watch the action, hung back again and pressed herself against the rock face. Beside her, her tall companion pushed to keep going.

"You go on ahead," she pressed, guiding the panicked bot closer towards the children. "I'll catch up—"

She wasn't allowed to continue that thought, yanked and pulled as her companion used Sarah's own movement against her. There was no room for argument, locked in a metal grip, though she made a sound of indignation. Finally, there was a moment of peace, though the walls that guarded them shook dangerously.

"So hey, what's your name?" the blond boy asked, back turned and focused more on the conflict. "I'm Rad. This is Carlos, and Alexis."

"Sarah. Good to meet you," she breathed, nodding to each of them. "And, uh... your friends? They got names, too?"

All at once the bots began to beep, as though frantically unloading their greetings and fright all at once between their new tag-a-longs. Each human introduced their robotic counterpart, and they all seemed eager to welcome the newcomers despite their dire circumstance. When asked about her own companion—minicons, she learned—Sarah paused.

"I, uh, never had time to ask," she admitted, looking as guilty as the minicon in question. "I ran over his—their?—panel thing trying to see what was going on out here. Those huge things found us shortly after."

The irony of recounting her discovery wasn't lost on the situation as a deep shadow stretched over the huddled group, and a metallic figure blocked their only way out.

"Lord Megatron, I've found them!" It was the bot that'd initially tried to scoop up Sarah and her minicon. "And they've done us a favour, trapping themselves!"

"Well what are you waiting for, Demolisher?" another voice, the owner out of sight, scowled. "Secure them immediately!"

Rad backpedaled from his position, and the one called High Wire moved hurriedly to his side. Each minicon closed rank to their human, and then together into a group. Grindor whirred, looking to Sarah before looking to her minicon, lowering himself to a defensive position and bidding them both come closer. Sarah paid no attention to any of them, instead choosing to bend down and grab something from the dirt. The one called Demolisher watched all of this intently, chuckling when he realized what was in her hand.

"Aw, that's cute," he mocked, kneeling on one knee and grinning. "What'cha gonna do, fleshbag, gonna hit me with—AGH!"

Sarah had cocked back and hurled a rock the size of a large fist, nailing the sneering mech right in one of his stupid green eyes. It startled him enough to check for cracks, prodding at the area tenderly, and she took this time to find another suitable projectile. Once those fingers were clear Demolisher snarled, pulling his fingers away... only to get another rock thrown at the same spot. There was an audible crack this time, and Sarah hooted in laughter. This was dangerous and _stupid_ , poking a bear this big, but she was two for two and adrenaline began to rush. Demolisher wailed angrily, crying, 'She cracked my optic!' before removing his hands again.

There was indeed a sizeable break running through his right eye—optic, whatever—and there was a swell of pride in her chest at her own work. Behind her, the kids and their minicons were stone still. They watched this exchange, with an arrested mix of awe and unease, until Carlos exploded with enthusiasm.

"YEAH, Decepti-creep, take that!" he hollered, alarming those around him as he pumped a fist in the air.

Another shadow overtook the small ravine, and their triumph cut frighteningly short. Sarah could swear this new bot was even taller than the one knelt in front of them; the sheer stature commanded fear and dread, and they all fell quiet.

"Letting a human get the better of you? Shameful." The voice was deep, condescending. "It seems I must take care of everything myself."

Judging the voice, this was the one Demolisher called Megatron. Everything about him was etched hard into Sarah's mind; he was equal parts an earthy green and dull purple, but if it weren't for the shaded view she would have lost those piercing red eyes to the midday sun. The horns sitting on his head only added to his devilish countenance—was that even _possible_ with robots? She stood in awe of him, of this fearsome presence, and her throat locked. He noted this, a smile blooming with cheshire satisfaction.

"Well well, it seems you humans _aren't_ as stupid as you are primitive. You know when your betters stand before you." Demolisher looked back to Megatron, who gestured for him to move. Megatron took his place when he obeyed. "Now, you have something of mine. Give it to me."

There was a beat of silence, then—

"You can fuck right off!"

The words left Sarah before she could stop herself, and she snapped her lips shut as she stared him down. There was a shift in his expression; not so much surprise at the outburst, but contemplative appraisal. There was a pregnant pause before Megatron outright laughed.

"What a feisty spirit, this one! You would make an entertaining pet." His smile turned malicious, and Sarah's throat tightened again. "Too bad I don't _do_ feisty."

Megatron reached out, his hand falling heavily, as he made for the minicons. The smaller robots broke into a wave of beeps and whirs as they each took their humans, making a run for it before the large hand found purchase. Sarah's own minicon scooped her up, running alongside Sureshock at full tilt. Thankfully they had secured the element of surprise, leaving the large robot to scramble as his quarry escaped. He yelled, loud and angry, as he spun to make another attempt.

"Lord Megatron, they're getting away!" another large robot yelled. This one was white, bulky and had garishly yellow blades poking out from his back.

"Cyclonus, you useless husk of scrap, _grab them!_ " Megatron hissed.

All at once, chaos broke loose again; a barrage of fire rained down on the mountainous robots before Cyclonus could obey, and the minicons booked it. The brighter-coloured bots had once again come to the rescue, being given reprieve after their opponents got distracted. With a snarl of frustration, Megatron sounded a call to retreat. His subordinates wasted no time answering, and in a blink they were all gone. The threat of danger no longer imminent, the minicons slowed and replaced their charges on the ground. Behind them, the earth rumbled gently as their defenders approached.

"That was a close one!" Carlos called, flagging them down. "Way to go, you guys!"

"You kids alright?" the robot with a bright red visor asked. "We saw you got caught up in the crossfire."

"Yeah, we managed okay. Even found some new friends!"

At this, the large robots turned their focus to Sarah. The one with the yellow paint job knelt down to get a closer look, and she instinctively snatched a large rock from the ground. Cocked and ready, Sarah stood defensively in front of her minicon and watched him warily. He laughed, holding his hands up and pantomiming surrender.

"Whoa, easy there! I ain't like those Decepticons, I won't hurt ya," he offered. "My name's Hot Shot, that's Red Alert. And, uh, it looks like you really helped us out of a bind."

"How do you mean?" Sarah didn't drop her rock.

"Finding that minicon, for one." Hot Shot nodded happily to her crimson friend. "Smacking the slag out of Demolisher, for two."

"Language," Red Alert admonished.

"Point is," he continued, ignoring his blue-and-white companion, "It's nice to meetcha."

"Nice to meet you. I'm Sarah. This is, uh..." She turned to her companion. "Well, I dunno, we didn't get a chance to really—"

A white-painted hand was extended, and there was a happy series of beeps as her minicon's faceplate slid back. The beeping continued, but the mouth didn't move outside of the grin that was offered; still, Sarah found the noises pleasant. Understandable, even. She listened for a moment and found the pattern of communication was repeating slower this time. She grasped the robotic hand, and eventually—

"This is Bombslide," Sarah announced, to the minicon's delight. "I understood you, that's... that's incredible."

The minicon nodded enthusiastically, and that earned a round of applause from the kids.

"Yeah, we don't get it either, but we can kinda understand ours, too," Rad chimed in. "Looks like you're in this with us."

"Looks like it. I'd call this a good day."

Another voice chimed in, deep and light all at once. This one she was unfamiliar with, but Hot Shot and Red Alert shot to attention. This one stood tall, mighty, and there was a gentle countenance that echoed in the others. He stood as tall as Megatron, and was a vibrant pillar of white, red and blue.

"At ease, men. It seems we have a new friend to our ranks." Though his features were kept behind a faceplate, Sarah could hear the smile in his voice. "I am Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots, and I would like to personally thank you for your help, today. Any organic being willing to stand against Megatron and his goons the way you did is heartening."

To say she was flattered— _flustered_ , really—would be an understatement. Sarah's face flushed, dug the toe of her shoe into the packed earth and nodded, grinning.

"I, uh, I'm glad to help. You've made my day an interesting one, that's for sure."

"I can imagine. Well, we've all earned a breather; Sarah, why don't you come with us back to base?"

"I'd love to, but, uh..."

* * *

Sarah kept her perch on a supply crate, watching Red Alert as he worked on repairing her jeep. She was thankful he'd agreed to help her, though she was certain run-of-the-mill auto repair was beneath his status as a medic.

"Not entirely," he assured her. "My expertise falls more in line with keeping my team's inner mechanisms in working order, but sometimes this is part of the job, too."

That didn't ease her guilt much, but she was thankful all the same. The Autobots, as she'd learned they were called, had welcomed her into their fold warmly, took her into their base; all for her show of bravery and keeping Bombslide out of the hands of Decepticons. The minicon in question was slurping away happily on something called energon beside her, kicking her legs childishly as she did so. After the chaotic day they'd all had, this was a welcome change. Optimus joined them in the repair bay, his arrival announced by gentle rumbling through the ground.

"How are things coming along?"

"Pretty good, just some minor adjustments and it'll be road-ready in no time."

"Wonderful, I'm glad to hear it. I'm sure Sarah is, too."

"I really gotta thank you again," she hummed, craning her head between them. "I know this's gotta seem mundane, but—"

"I told you, it's no problem," Red Alert chuckled. "Your front axle took a good hit, all it needed was some straightening and recalibration. That back panel and bumper are gonna need some work, too, but other than that it's largely superficial damage."

"Yeah, well, it was a hell of an introduction." Sarah looked to Bombslide at that, and there was a protesting series of beeping. "I'm kidding! Really, I'm sorry for being so short with you earlier. Everything was just... happening so fast, and—"

"That reminds me," Optimus interjected. "Can you tell us how, exactly, you found Bombslide? We couldn't pinpoint her coordinates, we only had the general location."

"It was by complete accident. The commotion y'all were making in the canyon was felt miles out; we thought it was an earthquake at the facilit—"

Sarah stopped cold.

"Oh no. The compound. They're gonna think I died or something, _oh no_..."

Red Alert poked his head from under the plated repair lift. "The compound?"

The kids had filtered their way into the bay by now, followed by two new boys she hadn't met yet.

"I work at a contracted extension of Cosmoscope Labs; we're like a remote satellite facility, in charge of monitoring cosmic anomalies. I'm one of a handful junior techs, and they all saw me speed off into the fuckin'... oh, geeze..."

"Cosmoscope? My folks work there!" Rad chimed. "I mean, they work here at one of the main labs. Hey, maybe I can talk to 'em, see if they can cover for you."

Sarah shot him a raised brow. "Can you even cover for yourself? Do they know _your_ involvement in any of this?"

There was no answer, and a coy 'Mmhm' droned in the pit of her throat.

"Besides, ain't y'all just a bunch of kids?" she continued. "How'd you get caught up in any of this?"

"Young or not, they've been instrumental in helping us, too," Optimus cut in. "We understand they have obligations to maintain, but I trust them to handle whatever it is they need to."

The statement was decisive, meant to nip any further argument in the bud. The atmosphere wasn't quick to lose its tense edge, but it began to bleed out once Red Alert wordlessly excused himself back to working on the suspended jeep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aight, for not being in the fandom for so long, this feels fantastic. I realize the beginning just kinda jumps into things, but that was the idea and I just went for it. Adding descriptors for Sarah would have felt forced in the face of so much going on, so I apologize! They will come. I'm also taking liberties with one of the minicons, as Bombslide isn't canon.
> 
> Using organic terms was an intentional choice, as she's learning everything off the cuff til she learns the bot equivalent. I promise I'm not *that* far removed lmao.
> 
> I expect little reception til I write more, but if you have any comments, please drop em my way! I'd love to have some feedback.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Going AWOL after inexplicable activity and coming back with no explanation raises a lot of questions. It really sucks, though, when you gotta do it again to save your own skin, and trust your friend with the burden of dealing with the fallout. That's kinda shitty, but what can you do?
> 
> You get in a fight, that's what you do.

In the days following the incident in the canyon, Sarah spent her time meandering around the Autobot base. So had the kids she met. When there weren't sirens screaming through the base detecting more minicon panels, these enormous, friendly robots had to deal with the attention of several humans at once. It was surreal, casually chatting with otherworldly beings about Earth and their own planet, respectively.

Cybertron. The name alone was awe-inspiring to their human charges, but their accounts left Sarah yearning to know more. At face value, the cities sounded not unlike earthly metropoles; spires of metal buildings jutting upward like teeth, neon lights glinting and sparkling off of chrome-polished structures and electrifying night life. But it was the rust deserts and luminescent, radioactive oceans of natural energon that captivated her most. The vast, sprawling cities of past generations and their lasting architectural influence; how most of their planet was waylaid to ruin between factions, and how the minicons were just one in a long line of motivators for this seemingly unending war. Millions of years, countless loss on both sides; of all the tired faces recounting these stories, none looked more worn than Optimus himself.

Sarah hurt for them all. Her heart burned angrily for a conflict she had no personal involvement with, but deeply felt all the same. She carried that pain with her wherever she went, kept it as close to her heart as they did. If Sarah was to inherit this collective effort and be helpful, she would also carry their burdens. To her, it was the least she could do for their kindness.

She accompanied the gaggle of kids, helping to hunt down panels before the Decepticons could split forces and attempt to search themselves. In this time Sarah had also discovered that minicons were like their gargantuan counterparts, in that they could assume vehicular guises; with some effort, she discussed with Bombslide what she preferred her alternate form to be, and now zipped along on a slick red motorcycle. It was the form she'd taken on previous to the minicons' escape, and Sarah felt she had no right to change that.

Sometimes she was the only human along for the ride, and she didn't argue. It was a special honour, being asked on a mission while the kids stayed back. She felt valued, appreciated, and she was happy to oblige. It was doubly satisfying whenever Demolisher was present, that crack in his optic a glaring reminder of their first meeting. He wasn't spared from Autobot heckling, much less from his own team, and Sarah enjoyed joining the fun. 

Everything came to a grinding halt five days in. She couldn't avoid the inevitable, knowing the longer she was away the worse the situation she'd be coming back to would be. It was difficult to swallow the fact she had to return; everything in the past week had come to her so easily, and she couldn't deny a sense of belonging in the outlandish circumstance. But, when you were in the middle of bumfuck nowhere in Nebraska, it was easy to get lost in a new life. It was even harder to vocalise this, asking these new friends to send her home after generously putting her up in their own base. The kids were a massive help in that, sneaking bedding where they could for her. Despite everything, Sarah was met with understanding.

Some part of her knew this wasn't truly goodbye, but it felt like it. Sarah mentally prepared herself for bombardment with coworkers from all sides. The endless questions would undoubtedly be overbearing and incessant. Already, she missed her robotic company before she even drove through the base's warp gate.

* * *

She'd gone straight home, choosing to leave Bombslide in the large bots' care, to unpack everything that had happened. Town was maybe twenty miles from the lab; it was nice and quiet, the bulk of its activity only recently coming from the influx of out-of-state transplants. The younger team got posted up in a small apartment building, an older place they'd inherited from their more tenured colleagues. Sarah'd gotten back before anyone had made it home, and she'd showered and curled up on her couch. There was nothing on, except the lights; she sat in silence, the faint drone of fluorescents above the small dining table her only company. Sarah stared into her empty TV screen, breathing steady and her thoughts a million miles away.

What had she been _thinking_ , running after all that nonsense in the range? Instead of following protocol, she went on a wild goose chase that would have scared away any sensible person. Wrapping her arms around her knees, Sarah's stare shifted from the screen to the rug under her; there was the standoff with those Decepticons. An uneasy, disbelieving laugh choked its way out of her, now that she was briefly removed from the situation. What would have happened if Demolisher hadn't taken the time to gloat over her, and just squashed her instead? She had _attacked_ him; worse, she didn't even think about it. It was a reflex. She stood no humanly chance of survival, but that didn't stop her. Still, that didn't dull the bubbling thrill of remembering she'd cracked one of his eyes. Optics. Same difference.

The satisfaction of taunting him repeatedly was stupider, still. Sarah fully knew that, without the protective reach of the Autobots and Bombslide, she wouldn't have survived the subsequent encounters with the Decepticons. More than once they targeted her, not only for payback but knowing that protecting her life meant distractions. But that was part of the appeal, wasn't it? The danger of it all, the serendipity of finding yourself tied into otherworldly friendship? And it _felt_ like friendship, like they were happy knowing they could count on more than their own numbers. It still surprised her, how easily she settled into it.

She chuckled again, quieter this time.

And those kids. Oh, those kids! Bad enough that a young career woman went running off after folly, tied up in NDAs and other contractual obligations, but a gaggle of kids being wrapped up in all this didn't settle well with her. Rad said his parents worked for one of the main labs; maybe she'd take him up on that offer, not that she was any bit confident in how much it'd help. No imagined conversation could adequately explain the 'why' of the situation, and she rubbed at her face haphazardly. What a mess—

There was a knock at her door, and Sarah's shoulders stiffened.

"Sarah? You in there?" She knew that voice. Jenny, one of her closer colleagues. "I saw your car downstairs, you home?"

She debated whether to answer or play silent.

"Come on, I see your lights through the curtains."

That meant nothing.

"I'm scared for you, girl, everyone's talking."

Sarah exhaled; she knew _that_ was coming. Ceding to the call, Sarah pushed herself from the cushions and cracked open the door.

"Oh thank God," Jenny exhaled. "I'm worried sick about you, what's going on?"

There was a furtive glance around, inward to the apartment, before, "Not here. Take a ride with me?"

If Jenny was here, she didn't want to risk other curious souls poking about. Sarah grabbed her keys from a hook beside her door, slipped out in her pj's and slippers and locked the door behind her. She left the lights on, not wanting to walk into a dark room on her return. There was an odd feeling in the air. She didn't like it, and wondered if Jenny felt the same. The pair of them padded down the stairs to the lot below, to a familiar red jeep, and piled in. As they pulled out of her parking spot and made their way out, Sarah caught a face or two peeking out from the ground level units from her rearview.

Shit. Hopefully they could get back with little fanfare.

It didn't take long to get past the town limits, and with a grin Sarah threw it into third gear. The sun had long since vanished, swallowing everything in twilight. The ground hadn't fully lost its heat; the wind whipping around them hadn't chilled yet, and Jenny fiddled with the disk player for some fitting music, switching to the radio when she found nothing suitable. The road stretched open before them, sparse in traffic and perfect for two young scientists to make an evening escape. They'd just caught the disk jockey at the end of whatever block he was plugging, and soon after Chevelle droned through the speakers.

They sang along at the top of their lungs, and Jenny stood from her seat to prop herself on the inner frame of the cab. The night air blew through her short blonde hair, and she opened her arms to catch more of it. She was laughing, and Sarah upped the ante with pushing on the accelerator. Jenny hooted her approval. What a shame the air was quickly getting colder; she returned to her seat, rubbing her arms.

Sarah hadn't gone far from town limits, but they'd gone out enough that she felt safe. Pulling off the road and a little ways into packed dirt, she killed the engine and reached for the back seat. It wasn't often they got away like this, but she kept camping supplies tucked away for the moments they did. It wasn't an overnight thing—she hoped it wouldn't be, they had an early morning—so she only retrieved enough things to start a small fire. Jenny took it all, swinging herself out the door enthusiastically.

"So, what's so important that you dragged us in the middle of nowhere?"

The fire didn't take long to catch, and Sarah watched it flicker healthily. It was difficult to organize her thoughts in a way she hoped wouldn't make her look off her rocker; Sarah must've been wearing her thoughts on her face, evidenced by Jenny reaching over and bringing her fingers across her arm. It was enough to earn a contemplative grunt.

"I don't even really understand what happened." It was the truth. Mostly. "It all happened so fast, and then I got caught up in it, and—"

"Got caught up in _what?_ "

"FUCK, I dunno!" Sarah threw up her hands. "It was—" Robots. Aliens. _Robot aliens._

Both were correct, but it simplified things too much. She groaned to herself, leaving Jenny watching expectantly.

"Now that I'm tryin' to actually vocalize it, it sounds so ridiculous. But I know what I saw, Jen."

"Cool. You gonna tell me what it is?"

"You're not gonna believe me."

Silence.

"...look, I don't wanna say too much," Sarah sighed, deflating. "I already know there's gonna be folks questioning me, and I'm really not looking forward to that."

"How sweet of you to protect me," Jenny hummed, the grin more in her voice than on her face. It was short lived. "But you left in such a hurry, Sarah. Shit was going nuts, and you run _towards_ it? We saw lights firing off in the distance and thought the worst."

"Y'all saw that?" Sarah asked, incredulous. "Everyone was running scared, how—?"

"When you ran."

"Ah. Fuck."

"Fuck is right."

They sat quietly for a while, both staring into the licking flames. The silence stretched on, and Sarah slowly began to shuffle her way closer to Jenny; she rested her head on the other's shoulder, and an arm wrapped around her. There were words fighting in the pit of her throat, all of them demanding to be said but with no coherent sense to them. She wanted to describe what happened, to pour everything out and be done with it; uncertainty gripped her, though, and locked all efforts of clarifying anything at all. 

"I saw what made those lights and tremors," she mused quietly. "It was like nothing I've ever seen before, and when people start asking harder questions, I want you as far away from the situation as possible."

"You're scaring me." There was a waver to her voice.

"I'm scared, too, cause I don't know what to expect. I could be wrong; maybe this will all blow over. But if it doesn't..."

The conversation had turned so dire, and Jenny mirrored her own apprehension. It wasn't for fear of letting her in on the secret; far from it, she wanted Jen by her side in this, and knew she would appreciate the situation. To risk her friend's well-being... to risk her getting caught up in what Sarah was sure would spark an investigation would be entirely irresponsible on her part. There was a small voice that argued 'to hell with it', that she was blowing the situation out of proportion; that maybe they would assume she just needed some house rest and nothing actually happened.

That... sounded like a good idea. A _fantastic_ idea.

Hard contemplation overtook the grim frowning on Sarah's face so quickly that Jen leaned back a bit.

"...what?" she asked, her tone cautious.

"Give this a few days to blow over," Sarah advised. "Yes, something happened and I want to tell you about it, but let me get some insurance first."

"Alright." Jen still wasn't entirely certain, but her voice belied the willingness to play ball. "You need me to do anything while you get this... 'insurance'?"

"Anyone who asks, tell 'em I just needed some bed rest. I blacked out in the canyon and, when I came to, I didn't feel well."

"Wait, did you?" Jenny looked her over, entirely alarmed.

"No, 'course not!" Sarah laughed lightly. "But I need the story to be solid. The fewer questions, the better. Then it should be safe to let you in on my secret."

Jenny was getting exasperated again, but kept any further commentary to herself. Sarah wrapped her arms around her friend, and she reluctantly leaned into the embrace. They said nothing more; nothing really had to be, at this point. Not yet. It wasn't time. Both sat, watching the fire for a while. It was a heavy silence that settled over them, the crackling of firewood almost muted as both women got lost in thought. The fire was well into shrinking by the time Jen spoke.

"We should start getting back."

"... yeah."

The pair of them got up, and Sarah kicked dirt over the dying embers. With all supplies collected and replaced in the back seat of the jeep, they both clambered into the front seats. The night had settled in, and the air was cold without the comfort of the campfire. Sarah shoved the key into the ignition, but she stopped; a shearing screech of wind sounded above them. The displaced air wasn't an uncommon thing in the area, there was an airport nearby. It was the sound of helicopter blades immediately after, though, that made Sarah sink down into the driver's seat. Grasping for Jen's arm, she tugged down in a silent bid for her to do the same.

Any attempt at questioning was shushed harshly, and they both sat unmoving, quiet and tense. Sarah cast her eyes up and toward the source of the sound, but it was so dark that she couldn't be certain of position or whether it was Decepticons. As this went on, Sarah periodically looked to Jen—even she was noticing a repeating flight pattern. Whoever was flying around, it sounded like they were staying in the area. The longer they stayed put, the colder it got, and they were shivering hard when the two aircraft finally left. As if to stress her point, Sarah stayed put a beat or two longer and shot Jen a look.

She fired up the jeep, and she was careful to keep the speed limit to avoid undue attention; shakily, Jen turned on the heat to stave off the worst of their teeth chattering. Again, the pair of them sat in silence, but there was such a strong, frightful undercurrent to it. They remained like that for the rest of the way.

When they pulled into the apartment parking lot, both exhaled a breath neither of them realized they held. Sarah wasted no time getting out of the jeep and up the stairs, and Jen struggled to keep up.

"Try to get some sleep," was all Sarah offered as she unlocked her door. "Remember what I told you, okay?"

* * *

Her apartment was as she left it, and she tugged the curtains shut as tightly as she could before shuffling towards her bedroom. A cone of light suddenly swung from inside the room and Sarah stopped dead; she had left nothing unsecure. How was there someone in her apartment? There was nothing she could grab, so she settled for a fist as she kept the other hand in front of her. She was nearly rounding the frame when excited beeping bubbled from inside, and a familiar red frame came shuffling out.

Sarah nearly fell over, and the minicon rushed forward.

"Bombslide, what the _fuck_ are you doing here?" she hissed, feeling wholly dizzy and thankful the bot was close enough to hold on to. "How did you even get in here?"

She beeped more, and Sarah was too shaken to make any sense of it. Instead of trying again, Bombslide's visor shone an iridescent blue, projecting an image of Optimus into her living room.

"Sarah," he began, his voice projected from the minicon. "I did not intend to contact you so soon after you returned home, but you are in grave danger. The Decepticons have been hunting down you and the kids, so I've sent Bombslide to watch over you. It would be better if you were under our direct—"

The feed fizzled out right as tremors rumbled through the ground. Bombslide's visor returned to its reflective yellow as white text rolled over half of it, an exclamation point flashing on the other. Sarah couldn't make out the text, but she could wager what was causing the disturbance. The minicon was whirring and chirping now, echoing her human's distress.

"Are you able to activate the base's gate?" Sarah asked her. Negative. Okay, "How did you get in here?"

Bombslide rushed to the kitchen, pointing at the window standing open a crack. The tremors were getting stronger, and it was only a matter of time before she lost her ceiling or worse. Sarah darted to her room, grabbed a duffle bag and frantically chucked toiletries, small electronics and clothes into it before slinging it over her back. The Decepticons were nearly on top of the building, now, and Sarah looked desperately from the ground below to the minicon next to her.

"You can survive that jump, right?" Affirmative. "If you jumped down, could you catch me?" Again, affirmative.

With no further prompting, Bombslide hopped neatly out the window, landing with a hard 'clonk' that sounded more like sheet metal being dropped on itself. The tremors got faster. _Fuck_ , they heard that. Sarah barely waited long enough for the minicon to regain composure before tossing herself down two stories. She fell into Bombslide's arms hard, but the minicon leaned into the impact enough to negate any lasting damage. There was no time wasted shifting into vehicular form, helmet popping off and stopping primly on the seat of the motorcycle. Sarah took it, climbing on as the wheels kicked into overdrive. The pair of them peeled around a corner right as Cyclonus poked his head around it. She was thankful Bombslide was in control of the escape, fearing her lack of experience riding bikes would have seen her eating dirt right under his feet.

A cascading wall of symbols took up half her view, and for a moment she fancied herself being in a spy movie. It was short-lived, pockets of earth being thrown forcefully into the air in their escape. They were being shot at, and a flash of terror lit in her chest.

"Bombslide, can you contact the base?" she shouted.

"Already here, Sarah, I read you." Relief fluttered through her as Hot Shot's voice came through the helmet.

"Hot Shot! Bombslide got to me safe and sound, but we're under fire. Is there any way to open—"

One projectile flew close enough to singe part of Sarah's sleeve and she shrieked, sinking closer to Bombslide's console. Through the intercom, she could hear Hot Shot quickly relaying the situation to whoever was with him. Bombslide hadn't connected to the base's main terminal, otherwise her voice would have been heard by everyone; the minicon contacted the sporty Autobot directly. Odd.

"Hang in there, we're making our way to you—"

"No!"

"No? Whaddia mean no—"

"I'm too close to town, it's too dangerous to risk duking it out here. We're making our way into the desert, I'll let you know when to throw the switch."

Again Hot Shot relayed the message, and Sarah tightened her grip on the handles with purpose. Even without ever riding a motorcycle, she was almost certain this was faster than anything humans could manufacture. Behind them, Cyclonus' helicopter blades grew ever closer. She'd been right to lie low earlier, but that left a very concerning question: where was Starscream? How courteous of him to answer that for her, lowering his altitude almost lazily as he kept pace with the bike. Cyclonus snuck up the right side of the human and minicon; they were flanked.

"Hello again, human," the seeker jeered. "Look, Cyclonus, the pitiful thing thinks she can outrun us on a minicon. Isn't that cute?"

" _Adorable!_ " the helicopter cooed, cackling and leaning his blades in ominously. "Hey, I have an idea! Why don't we take both of them back as pets~?"

"Not a bad idea, for once in your miserable life."

"I have _plenty_ of good ideas, you just don't like listening—"

"Hot Shot, NOW!"

They were far enough into the wilderness that Sarah felt safe to call for help; the interruption shocked both Decepticons, but the sudden cry for the Autobot had them reeling back defensively. The air just ahead of them shimmered in two heartbeats' time, and Bombslide's visor showed a gap in the glistening space. She steered her minicon through it, and they skidded to a halt as the Autobots materialized. Both Decepticons barely corrected enough to avoid a collision, but Cyclonus fared the worst; the momentum carried through as he came out of vehicle mode, slamming bodily into Red Alert as he solidified. Bombslide peeled out of the way, but the shock waves threw her off balance and Sarah went sliding.

The impact dazed the medic, but Sarah's screaming and screeching tires inspired him to action; Cyclonus had taken aim not at him but the human, using her as target practice as Bombslide frantically rushed to keep her out of harm's way. Red Alert scrambled for his own blaster, nailing the helicopter in the hip and frying part of the ball joint. He cried out in pain and began to turn his attack on the medic, but Red Alert was already on top of him and swinging. Starscream circled around, shooting pot shots at the pair and showing little regard for hitting friend or foe. The seeker made the unfortunate mistake of drifting a little too low to the ground, finding a yellow bot had his wings in a vicegrip.

In trying to ground the jet, Hot Shot wasn't paying attention to how close he was to Starscream's thrusters. The Decepticon was happy to show the error for what it was, firing them up and taking off into the air. The energon-fueled heat scorched the paint from his helmet and melted part of his visor, and Hot Shot struggled to see through the super-heated material as it trailed over one of his optics. He choked out a strangled cry of pain, and Starscream cackled.

"What's the matter, Autobot? Can't take the heat? Perhaps you ought to stay on the ground where you _belong_ —!"

With that the seeker rolled mid-flight, but he underestimated Hot Shot's stubbornness; the initial gravity shift had the sporty bot hanging on for dear life, but the moment they flipped upside down again he acted. Starscream felt the wide bottoms of pedes under his cockpit, wings straining with sudden pressure. Hot Shot leaned his full weight into the nose of the jet and kept it there, correcting for any attempt at throwing him. The seeker was being forced into a nosedive; deciding two could play at that game, Starscream rolled again and kept momentum until they plummeted in a death spiral. The ground was quickly coming up to greet them, wind howling in Hot Shot's audials.

Sarah caught glimpses of both struggles as Bombslide sped off to a safe distance from the chaos. The minicon skidded sideways to a halt, and they watched as the bots locked into their contest of wills. Her heart plummeted to her stomach the faster they fell, urging Hot Shot to disengage before it drove him to his death. Through the helmet Bombslide pinged her human's chemical levels, beeping and whirring for her attention as Sarah's adrenaline shot well past a healthy threshold.

"I'm fine, Bombslide." The minicon could feel her shaking through the seat. "But I can't just sit here and do _nothing_ —"

Revving the handles, Sarah spurred Bombslide to take off speeding towards the battling bots. Above them, Starscream felt a beat of panic the longer this game of chicken went on, finally pulling up hard to avoid crashing. He wasn't quick enough, and soon the nose of the jet dug into earth. The impact threw them both, with the seeker shifting back out of vehicle mode and trying his damnedest not to roll over his own wings. As this was happening, Red Alert had forcibly claimed one of the copter blades from Cyclonus' back as a prize. The Decepticon wailed angrily, dodging a batter's swing to crack the medic over his jawline. He stumbled and the other bot was on him immediately, eagerly paying back the treatment he'd gotten earlier.

"CYCLONUS," Starscream screeched, vaulting to the air and transforming again to avoid grabby Autobot servos. "Let's get out of here!"

Bombslide burned rubber to meet Sarah's urgent acceleration, and one handle on her bar popped free. From the inner end a blade slid out, white hot with energon coursing through it. The minicon took control of their trajectory, barrelling right for Cyclonus. Too wrapped up in their conflict, not even the Autobots paid attention to the fast-approaching pair.

"But Megatron said—"

"Forget what Megatron said! No mudball-dweller is worth this, _let's go_ —"

The minicon swung as she engaged her brakes, catapulting Sarah into the air and throwing her onto Cyclonus' back. She'd clung onto one of his three remaining blades, colliding hard into the metal; it took her a moment to stop reeling from the impact, the edges of her peripheral beginning to blacken. Everyone reacted at once; Hot Shot and Red Alert yelled in their alarm, Starscream was too busy laughing to help, but none reacted more poorly than the helicopter bot himself.

The burning weapon she'd nabbed from Bombslide drove violently into the rotary joint. Though the casing proved more dense than she would have liked, Sarah dug as hard as she could to push the blade into the space between it and the back of his chassis; in a panic, the Decepticon realized she was digging for the connective lines underneath. He screamed bloody murder and jumped up, trying desperately to grasp at the human that had latched onto him.

"GET IT THE FRAG OFF OF ME," he screeched. "GET IT OFF, GET IT OFF, GET IT OFF—!"

Panic gave way to indignant anger and Cyclonus huffed.

"Fine, you wanna play rough? I can play rough!"

Though he was down a blade, it didn't stop the Decepticon from powering up the rotor while Sarah was still attached. He wasted no time bringing it up to full rotation, dislodging the human and her little dagger. She fell, screaming as she came dangerously close to the swinging metal foils. Hot Shot abandoned his assault on Starscream, launching himself with cupped servos to catch her. He slid over the packed earth, stopping right behind Cyclonus' legs as Sarah landed safely into his hold.

The seeker rained downed assault fire, peppering everything below him; Cyclonus, blades still running and trying to avoid being shot again, tripped backwards over the sporty Autobot's arms. He popcorned until his blades bent under the strain of his weight, and he wailed again. Red Alert returned fire at the jet, getting close enough to Starscream's wings that it forced him to adjust mid-air.

"Forget this, let's get out of here!" Cyclonus yelled, struggling to turn himself over.

He didn't wait for Starscream, jumping into warp protocol and leaving the seeker to fend for himself. He followed shortly after, hollering insults as his form stretched and disappeared. Those that were left breathed a sigh of relief, though none of them came out unscathed. Red Alert sported dents that pockmarked his armour, and his left door wing sat at an uncomfortable angle; Hot Shot had a gradient that ran from yellow to scorch to dingy metal haloing most of his helmet, and was partially blind in one optic.

" _What_ —" Red Alert wheezed, "—were you _thinking_ , pulling a stunt like that?"

She pulled off Bombslide's helmet, and the minicon in question came tottering over to retrieve it and her handle-knife. Sarah looked frazzled, dazed, and she looked over both Autobots; they both looked to her expectantly, but she had no answer to give, had no voice to give one. Helplessly her shoulders came up in a shrug and the medic sighed, shaking his head.

"What matters is that you're safe. You know we're taking you back to the base, right?"

"Yeah, I figured," Sarah ceded quietly, nodding. "I'm ready when you are."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HOO I didn't expect this to be so long. I appreciate y'all bearing with the human aspect of this so far, I promise more bot content is coming! It's just a lot of stage setting.
> 
> I hope y'all enjoyed that scene as much as I enjoyed writing it. Let me know if you liked it! Tell me whatcha think B)


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